The question now is how Japan can and will carry out this plan.
For more, we connect to our Choi Jeong-yoon at the news center.
Jeong-yoon Mokyeon, on Tuesday morning, the Japanese government said in a cabinet meetingthat it will start releasing the water into the Pacific Ocean in 2 years. This is the first official statement after years of back and forth on how to process the still radioactive water that's been stored since 2011 when the powerful earthquake and tsunami of the same year all but destroyed the Fukushima power plant. More than 1.2-5 million tons of contaminated water are stored in tanks, of which only 30 percent meets the standard for release of radioactive materials into the sea.
The U.S. reportedly says its position on the Iran sanctions is "unchanged" as Iran continues to demand that South Korea return its assets frozen under the sanctions.
This comes after South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kun, on a visit to Iran this past week, said that the money is Iran's and should be returned to its owner, though noting that they would first have to find a way. Yonhap News reported the U.S. stance on the issue, citing a State Department spokesperson who asked not to be identified.
Washington has said before that there will be no sanctions relief for Iran until it returns to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
U.S. President Joe Biden stressed the need for aggressive investment in semiconductor "infrastructure" to protect supply chains.
His remarks came during a virtual summit held by the White House on Monday, to discuss short-and-long-term solutions to the global chip shortage that's taking its toll on numerous sectors including the U.S. auto industry. "Chips like the one I have here, these chips, these wafers are batteries, broadband, it's all infrastructure. This is infrastructure. So, look, we need to build the infrastructure of today, not repair the one of yesterday. And the plan I proposed is going to create millions of jobs, rebuild America, protect our supply chains and revitalize American manufacturing."
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South Korea's Prime Minister says Seoul is willing to support talks among relevant parties regarding the Iran nuclear deal. During his visit to Tehran, Chung Sye-kyun said in a joint press conference with Iran's Vice President Sunday that related countries should also cooperate to resolve the issue of frozen Iranian assets in South Korea.
Around 7 billion U.S. dollars of Iran's assets are said to be frozen in Korea due to U.S. sanctions after former President Trump withdrew from the 2015 deal.
Iran's Vice President urged Seoul to solve the issue as soon as possible.
They also agreed to expand cooperation on vaccine cooperation and medicine trade.